Lüliang Gymnasium

Lüliang Gymnasium

Lüliang Gymnasium is situated at the foot of Fengshan Mountain in the urban area of Lishi District, Lüliang Municipal Government. It is a complex comprising the competition hall and the training hall. The competition hall has a seating capacity of 4,000 and can host a variety of sports competitions including basketball, table tennis, badminton, and volleyball. Its underground level can serve as a fitness club and a sports mall. The second floor can be used for exhibitions and conferences. Outside the gymnasium, there are public fitness grounds, tennis courts, and a senior gateball court. The next phase includes constructing a swimming pool and a sports hotel adjacent to the gymnasium.

In 2003, the government listed the renovation of the old Lüliang Stadium as one of ten key projects, investing over 5 million yuan to rebuild the grandstand and spectator stands, and to lay down a plastic running track and a green football field. The construction of one gymnasium and one stadium set an example for sports facility development in the mountainous regions of Lüliang. Currently, counties and cities such as Xiaoyi, Liulin, and Zhongyang have prioritized the development of sports facilities as key urban infrastructure projects. The brand-new gymnasium and stadium have also elevated Lüliang to become a leader among the 11 prefecture-level cities in Shanxi in terms of sports facility construction. Originally known as the Lüliang Region, the area was once the seat of the Jin-Sui Border Region Government during the war, an important stronghold for the revolutionary base of Yan'an, and a major battlefield during the Red Army’s Eastern Expedition.

Lüliang is both a revolutionary base area and a historically impoverished region. For over 30 years after the establishment of the region, there was no gymnasium or iconic sports facility. The regional stadium had fallen into disrepair and was in a dilapidated state. Some counties in Lüliang didn’t even have a stadium and had not held sports competitions for years. However, the mountainous Lüliang region is rich in mineral resources, and in recent years, income from the coking coal industry has risen, driving economic growth. In 2002, taking advantage of the transition from a region to a prefecture-level city, the people of Lüliang worked hard and invested more than 70 million yuan to meticulously build the first gymnasium in the Lüliang Mountains.